The Radford Free Press – Page 132 – All life is problem solving.

Economics / economic policy, economic theory, inequality /

Inequality

February 27, 2014

I am preparing a talk on inequality here in America, and so have been re-reading the Piketty and Saez work. Amongst the more eye-opening facts I have come across is the assertion, by Saez, that the surge in the top 1% incomes is so large that the growth of the bottom 99% amounts to only […]

Commentary, Economics / economic theory, ethics /

Is Medicine a Model For Ethics In Economics?

February 21, 2014

A recent correspondent asks whether medicine could act as a template for the importation of ethical standards into economics. On balance I don’t think it can. Here’s why: Medicine consists of a practical part that faces outward towards its customers. We call those customers patients. From the earliest times medicine has adopted the credo ‘first […]

Economics / austerity, debt ceiling, economic policy, fiscal cliff, government spending, Obama, Republicans, Simpson-Bowles /

Grand Bargain R.I.P.

February 21, 2014

Thank goodness too. There was some angst amongst left leaning analysts earlier this week because the smoke signals rising from the White House suggested that Obama had not given up the idea of changing the indexation for Social Security. This indexation is the way in which payments are calculated each year to offset inflation. A […]